Friday July 11th, 2014
Today's synchronized Friday theme is flankers .
( To those of you who are newbies to the perfume hobby a flanker is a sequel to the original creation -and often not as good as the original [or connected by anything but the name]but a easy way to market something to keep the brand in the public eye ).
My favorite flanker is probably Samsara Shine which is what I chose to wear today. It ,unlike many other flanker scents IS very similar to its origins . The Shine variation adds a soft,fruity touch to the top notes with fig leaves , red current,and citruses. This is by no means frooty candy stuff ! Samsara Shine IS a Guerlain after all and does live up to its heritage with a rich ylangylang and jasmine florals and sandalwood as it's primary attributes.
After a crazy work shift ( manager was late , register till was weird, and the LB ordering was down ,and then the power went out cause some knucklehead had to go cause a big wreck and knock out the digital box for phone lines! Heard that a truck had caught fire too from the wreck so it must've been pretty bad. The fire alarm blared and lights strobed ( for no good reason for probably an hour - I still have a slight headache from the cacophony!) I went over to Belk to return two dresses that were not as described( polyester in description , rayon upon arrival ,one print not as pictured either!)and while there spent a while sniffing a few scents.
I started at the Lauder counter and smelled the newest flanker to Pleasures , Pleasures Flower. It was quite nice ( I sampled it on skin on my way back out) . Flower smelled similar to EA Green Tea and EA Pretty eau de Cologne . I could pick out citrusy scent, apple blossomy ( peony and rose ) and lily of the valley . May be a limited edition I need to pick up.
I also skin sampled Pleasures Delight . It smelt like Angel maybe minus some of the pineyer aspects of the patchouli note. This one's been recently discontinued ,and I like it so I placed a bid on some after I got back home. Between the initial card sniffing and the final skin test on the way out the door I got other cards sprayed with:
Clinique Calyx-fruity different and interesting note progression ,going on the to buy list.
D&G La Lune -soft sweet pepper citrus? Interesting.
D&G La Amouroux- which smells somewhat masculine upon later sniffing of the card but perhaps it got too near something else in my bag?
Three of the Gucci flower collection Violet - nice soft floral similar to F but with a bit more peony.
Gardenia- okay sorta dryer and warmer than a true Gardenia scent .
Mandarin- I seem to recall this smelling the best of these Gucci that I skin tested previously. Card may have also acquired some masculine scents from my purse.
Oscar de la Renta Live in Love - smells very good, OdlR usually does good fragrances,this is no exception. As I saw a bottle on Ebay for under $20 ,it'll probably be a new addition sooner than later.
Untold by Elizabeth Arden caught my eye ( pretty bottle) but the scent was shampoo and a bit of licorice . Meh. Another pretty bottle and new release is Lucky Brand Lucky Darling sort of soft like Essence of Woman by Benetton mixed with M by Mariah Carey.Like. Easy wear type. Probable buy.
Lastly I tested on cards a couple of Rihanna 's scents Nude and Rogue.
Rogue .........was funny . It opened on paper with a strong cough syrup smell - the counter guy for Clinique agreed said it was cherry cough syrup.later it seemed to go into a lemonish cleaner musk unless I'm mixing the two cards up ! One (Nude?)gets a synthetic " creamy-ish musky vanilla " in the dry down which may not be terrible but it isn't wowing me either here at home . In store the scent was developing to be a copy of Betsey Johnson's first ( self named ) scent which I already have. As Rihanna has a somewhat dicey reputation I'm not really unhappy to pass on collecting her line.
